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HINDOL SENGUPTA’S THE MAN WHO SAVED INDIA TO BE ADAPTED INTO A FILM

New Delhi, 8 March 2018. Hindol Sengupta’s book, The Man Who Saved India, a seminal biography of Sardar Patel published by Penguin is currently being made into a web series. Acquired by Bohra Bros., Sunil Bohra producer at Bohra Bros., said that, “he was always mesmerized by Sardar Patel and his important contributions including the merging of the princely states into the union of India.”  Given that Bohra hails from Jodhpur a princely state, he said, “he can relate better than anyone else to the impact of Sardar Patel’s vision.”  Bohra also said that “since the book manages to deftly encompass Patel’s many facets, they will stay as close to the biography as possible when converting to a web series”.

Additionally, Bohra said, “more specifically, the web series will follow how Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel becomes one of the most crucial figures of Indian politics. Patel begins as an ordinary young man from Gujarat with minimal education, who later aces the toughest British law exams. Upon his return to India from Britain, he resigns from his job at the beckoning of Mahatma Gandhi, and joins India’s fight for independence. This is how Patel ultimately earns the title of “Sardar” from the father of the nation, himself.”

Bohra also marveled at the fact that “from his time in office, Patel was responsible for merging 500 princely states into modern India seen on maps today.”

‘I am most pleased that the filming rights to The Man Who Saved India have been bought by Sunil Bohra. Sunil has the vision, the tenacity and the instinctive understanding of how to bring Sardar Patel's story to life. The phrase larger than life is a cliché but like all clichés, there are moments when it is true. And this is one of them. This is one such story which is truly larger than life and I believe that Sunil is the right person to give this story the visual mounting that it requires - and the distribution muscle that it can enthral a new generation around the world as the story of Gandhi once did. Sardar Patel worked with and spoke extensively with youth all his life. He was one of the first in the Congress Party at that time who saw how futile and borrowed a Right versus Left debate among the youth was in India and propelled the youth on the far more urgent task for building the nation after colonial rule’ says the author Hindol Sengupta.

Milee Ashwarya, Publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage Publishing, says, ‘I am delighted that The Man Who Saved India by Hindol Sengupta is being made into a film and the character, personality and contribution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel will be available to a wider audience through the medium of cinema. Many congratulations to Hindol and to Sunil Bohra for taking on this brilliant initiative’.

The web series will also touch upon Patel’s long series of conflicts with Netaji Bose, taking the famous Kashmir dispute to UN, and the Bubonic Plague that infected millions of Indians.

Like the source material, the adaptation will touch upon Patel’s family life, a side not often explored in Indian history. At the age of 33, Patel loses his wife, Jhaverba, to cancer. Interestingly, Patel never remarried and there is no evidence of him having any sort of romantic relationship after Jhaverba’s death.

The story continues to the end of Patel’s life and provides a well rounded perspective.“The iron man,” as Patel is often called, survived a massive heart attack in 1948. However, he passed away two years later at the age of 75 due to natural causes. Apparently, he spent his last days cracking jokes from his bed. For all his contributions to modern India, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1991, and a statue was recently built to commemorate his love, loyalty and service to his country.

Bohra said that “the masterful book reveals facts bound to raise questions against the status quo and has potential to inspire heated discussions. Up until now, important details about this political story have been overlooked, or even kept hidden by vested interests. It is vital that this web series be made to reach a wider audience and allow for Sardar Patel’s story of nation building to be seen”.